Parks and Recreation and Scandal
by Kirshk
Summary: I couldn't help but think that it would be really funny if Leslie Knope needed fixing for her city council run and Olivia and Fitz happened to be visiting Ben, after getting to know him from his time in D.C., Super light and fluffy.
1. Chapter 1

Olivia Pope couldn't believe what she had been convinced to do. When Fitz suggested they needed a break from Washington D.C. and that he wanted to visit a friend of his, she had expected a resort or a beach, or at least a place with a decent wine list. She sat in her first class seat seething, thinking about boarding a plane to Indiana. Pawnee, Indiana. She'd never heard of it, but she was sure she wasn't interested in going. Fitz sat there reading a book, as he would occasionally peak at her through his lashes to see if she was still pissed.

She still was. Without a doubt she still was. He had given some legal advice to a political campaign and had made friends with a man running the campaign named Ben Wyatt. They had immediately bonded over the strong women in their lives and being on the perimeter of the political sphere. Ben had just married his fiancé, now wife Leslie Knope who was a city council woman. Fitz hadn't met her yet, but he wanted to get away from the city and figured going to visit his new friend couldn't hurt. When he had alerted him to the visit Ben had told him how excited Leslie was the meet Olivia Pope, the great fixer of D.C. Fitz laughed and told him Liv was excited to meet them both as well, even though it was a lie and he was surprising Liv with the trip.

"Livvie?"

"Hmm?" She was engrossed in some files from work and barely gave him any attention.

"You still made at me babe?" Fitz asked making a pouty face.

"Yes." She ignore his face outwardly, but on the inside she melted. This man controlled her, but in the best possible way. Two years ago he was running for president and when Cyrus Beene asked her to help the campaign she jumped on the opportunity being fresh out of law school she wanted to make a name for herself and thought a major campaign would be a great start.

The campaign had all sorts of problems. A gay strategist for a republican candidate, a republican candidate that supported women's rights and leaned so far left it was almost embarrassing, not to mention a wife who's apathy was so apparent it turned off voters. Their childless marriage only succeeded to add to the belief that the two were apathetic towards each other.

Olivia walked into campaign headquarters and immediately informed him of all the problems with him running. He immediately fired her, after Cyrus demanded he run after her or the campaign would never get off the ground, Fitz informed Cyrus that it was perfectly fine as he was no linger interested in putting up with his farce of marriage, really a farce of a life. The next day he had divorce papers drawn up, a month later they were signed, and six months after that Fitz was a single man. A single man, that had a lot of groveling to do to get Olivia Pope. After firing her she wasn't quick to forgive him, or slow to tell him how foolish he was for giving up on the presidency. He was insistent. He sent her flowers, books, bottles of wine, stuffed animals, an actual animal, a yorkie poo named Billie. When she got the small puppy delivered to her house, along with enough stuff to keep her fed and entertained her entire life Olivia called Fitz to yell at him for saddling her with such a big responsibility.

"How dare you make the assumption that I want a dog, I don't have time for a puppy. I have a life, a job, people that count on me!" She railed at him, when she was done he simply said,

"But I finally got you to call me back didn't I?"

"So you used this poor defenseless animal to get a girl? What if I didn't want her?"

"Yes, but my Niece's birthday is in a week and if you don't want her Charlie will be more than happy to love on a puppy."

"You can't just give away my dog!" Olivia had already bonded with the small animal and had taken advantage of the cream colored Prada tote Fitz bought her as a dog carrier and she was currently sleeping under Olivia's desk in her office.

"I wouldn't dare." He replied and she laughed.

"So do I get visitation?" Fitz asked hoping for more than shared custody of the furry white dog.

"Thursday during lunch, I'll be bringing her to the dog park on Jefferson. Be by the fountain by noon." Olivia said briskly and hung up before changing her mind. Fitz arrived half an hour early with a cup of Olivia's favorite tea, that had gone cold, and a broad smile. Billie immediately curled up into his strong arms and Olivia was suddenly very jealous of her dog. Weeks of biweekly doggy park dates turned into nightly phone calls that turned into all day long texting marathons that turned into a relationship. They had been together almost a year and were living together in Olivia's apartment with an excellent view of the monuments and co-parenting Billie, who was currently in a black Prada dog carrier under Olivia's seat in a Benadryl coma.

"I'm sorry Livvie, I really thought we could both use a break." Fitz said apologetically, actually feeling bad. He knew Olivia didn't take taking time off work lightly and now hes wasting her time.

"Its fine baby, but next time you wanna take a break I plan the trip, here's a hint, we are going back to Spain." Olivia told him than burrowed into his shoulder to take a nap. They had gone to Spain for their Six month anniversary and Olivia fell in love, she had been talking about buying a small house there on the Mediterranean ever since.

"Deal." Fitz agreed. He too loved it and was looking at houses there discretely thinking it would make an amazing engagement gift to her.

She drifted off to sleep and Fitz marveled at her ability to drop nearly anywhere once she was in a comfortable position. For the remainder of his flight he read his book and let Liv snore softly on his shoulder. He only woke her once they landed. As they walked off the plane and out of the terminal Fitz kept his eyes out for Ben. His wife had insisted that they pick him and Liv up despite his assurance that they could simply get a rental or a town car. As Fitz looked around he realized why Ben had gone along with picking them up. The airport was impossibly small, the smallest he had ever seen. Getting a town car in Pawnee wouldn't happen. Getting a rental in Pawnee seemed unlikely.

Before he spotted Ben he saw an excited blond, looking a bit like a wide eyed lunatic, which was basically how Ben had explained his wife, he recognized her from photos on Ben's desk. Holding Liv's hand he headed in their direction.


	2. Chapter 2

Olivia was too busy focusing on Billie who was still looking sleepy to notice the small blond that was basically vibrating in the direction they Fitz was leading her in.

"Baby are you sure we gave her the right amount she looks out of it." Olivia said nervously.

"Liv you googled it, and harassed three different vets, she is fine, just a little jet lagged."

"There's no time change!" Olivia snapped worried about her baby. She and Fitz both treated Billie like their child, but Olivia was always way more nervous than he is. It gave him a clear picture of what their life would be like with a child involved.

"There is for her, cause dogs are seven times older than their age so even though we are in the same time zone she's like three and a half years older now. Its exhausting." Fitz told her as if he was speaking factually.

"You're just trying to make me crazy, not cute Fitzgerald." Olivia pouted as he laughed at her pinched face. She simply rolled her eyes at him and kept letting him lead her.

When she finally saw Ben, she had only met him once, as they were working for opposing sides during the last election and felt awkward being seen socializing, she began heading in his direction as well. She immediately noticed the woman next to him that she assumed was his wife. She looked hyper and wide eyed and Olivia couldn't imagine serious and nerdy Ben with this perky blond. At least until she opened her mouth than things cleared up.

"Hello, Im Leslie Knope from the Parks Department, I'm so excited to meet you!" She nearly squealed at Olivia. Olivia kindly smiled a bit awkwardly, not entirely used to people fan girling over her as this woman appeared to be doing. Ben and Fitz greeted each other with a hand shake and a brief 'man hug.' They quickly traded and Olivia gave Ben a quick hug that Leslie seemed to nervous to offer to Fitz so they settled for a handshake. Fitz quickly wrapped his arm back around Olivia in a sign of his possessiveness, even if it was unconscious to him. Leslie was looking at Fitz with big eyes, but in a different way than she looked at Olivia.

"You shouldn't be allowed to be that good looking and smart I couldn't believe you dropped out of the election, you would have won hands down." Leslie had no idea she was putting her foot in her mouth until she got a look from Olivia.

"I mean being the first divorced president would have been amazing. I can't imagine giving up my dream like that. I'm a city council woman in Pawnee and I cant imagine just giving it up, even though people want me to." Sensing how annoyed Olivia was Fitz spared her a look that clearly indicated he didn't agree with Leslie and Ben tried to halt her monologue.

"Hey Leslie, lets get them back to the house, I'm sure they're tired from their trip."

"Yeah great, I cant wait to show you guys Pawnee and have you meet everyone. They're going to be so excited to meet Olivia Pope! And of course you too Fitzgerald."

"Fitz please." Fitz corrected her quickly.

"Do I have to?" She asked.

"Uhm no that's… no." Fitz said finally losing his façade that everything was normal.

They quickly headed out and Ben drove as Olivia sat in the passenger seat next to him with Fitz and Leslie behind them. They passed through a really nice portion of town and Olivia was surprised by what she saw around her.

"Wow that's a beautiful golf course, its too bad you didn't bring your clubs Fit." Before Fitz could agree Leslie jumped in.

"Oh this is crappy awful Eagleton, we haven't gotten into Pawnee yet." Leslie boasted and Olivia thought 'man if this is crappy and awful how nice must Pawnee be?' Her hopes were immediately lifted that maybe they wouldn't have such an awful time.

"You are now entering Pawnee, Good Luck with that…" Fitz read out loud, not realizing what direction the sign would go in before he starting speaking. Almost immediately the lush green and shocking palm trees let way to what looked like the average American city, lots of small houses close together, fairly old and some nicer than others. Compared to Eagleton however it looked like an impoverished mess.

"Now you know why Eagleton is so sucky!" Leslie declared. Ben looked vaguely like he was going to explain, but clearly didn't want to prompt Leslie into another monologue. Olivia looked out the window and all hope she had evaporated, she wondered if she would even be able to find any drinkable wine to make it bearable. They passed something called the Snake hole longue, Food and Stuff and a dilapidated gas station she knew her hopes for wine would be dashed.

"Does that sign say Recall Knope, like Leslie Knope?" Olivia asked.

"I better text Ann and tell her they missed one." Leslie said pulling out her phone. Olivia exchanged a look with Fitz who simply shrugged and went back to staring out the window.

"Uhm missed taking them down or…?" Olivia asked somewhat intrigued.

"Well the city is trying to have me recalled and they have a ton of money behind them where we don't so we have been putting Don't stickers on all their signs." Leslie said proudly as if it was a genius plan. Ben and Olivia looked dubious, but in an attempt to mind her business Olivia simply said,

"Hmm," and went back to focusing on her baby.

"Fitz shes coming around."

"She?" Ben asked. Right on time Billie answered him with a small bark and poked her head out. She immediately scampered out of her bag, climbed over the seat and curled up in her Dad's lap and fell back asleep.

"O.m.g. she is so adorable! She's like the dog version of Tom, Ron will hate her!" Olivia was caught between offended and confused so she stayed quiet and stewed, waiting to get this week over with. Desperate to get to the hotel she pulled out her phone and started answering emails from her office.

"Were here!" Leslie declared causing Olivia to release a breath of relief that they were at the hotel, but when she looked up she saw an old, but still fairly regal looking capitol building. Suppressing a groan she subtly gave Fitz a dirty look.

"I cant wait for you to meet everyone!" Leslie said jumping out of the car. Once she was out of ear range Ben turned and apologized.

"I'm sorry guys, Leslie was really excited for you to see the Parks department and meet all her friends and well its easier just to give in, because she will talk until you agree with her anyways." What he said was clearly negative, but the grin on his face told them he thought she was charming. Evidentially he and Fitz had that in common.

"Come on guys!" Olivia said poking her head back in the car, "Lets gooooo!" She said with the enthusiasm of a child. It was kind of hard not to follow her so the three of them got out of the car and headed inside.


End file.
